Dream-Time Alchemist
by AmberTales
Summary: Adalia is convinced to go to Amestris by someone she meets in her dreams in order to grant a wish of his. Once there, she cooperates with her twin soul, Becka, in order to learn about Truth and learn the truth about him. On the way, she finds abilities she didn't know she had, as well as a few other things. Mainly manga based, with influences from the others. Mostly present day.
1. Chapter 1: Arrivals

**Disclaimer: I only own my characters and this plot.**

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><p><em>"Whoa, Oh. Hey. Nice to see you again."<em>

_"You came here on your own strength again, what are you doing here?"_

"_I wanted to make sure you weren't lonely since it's so empty here all the time."_

"_Well, thanks, but now you have to cross the gate since you agreed to finally pay the toll last time you came."_

_"W-wait a sec! Aah!"_

_"Not many can get here the way you do, especially from that side of the gate. I hope to see how you fare in a world that can teach you what you don't know about me."_

_As the girl was taken through the gate her body was forming on someone who was sitting with one elbow in their lap and one hand on their chin. A sad expression crossed their face briefly as the gate clicked shut._

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><p><em>Smack. Th-thud.<em>

"Ow..."

An unusually short woman blinked up at the clear blue sky for a few seconds before slowly sitting up and looking around.

"Well, that was mean. I wonder where I am now?" The woman commented quietly, staring at the train tracks in front of her. As she turned to her right she saw that she was in the dirt next to an empty train station, as if she had fallen from there. Looking up she saw a sign she didn't recognize that read "Resembool". she had glanced at a newspaper to get a better idea of where she was when…

'_Who are you?' _A voice queried.

The woman startled and looked around for the source of the voice, forgetting that she saw October 3rd on the newspaper, she thought for sure she had not seen anybody else around.

'_Stop looking around! Who are you and what are you doing here?' _The voice demanded.

The woman startled again but calmed down quickly. "I don't know where I am. Can you tell me?" She asked the voice, uncertain.

'_Shush! Ok? I don't want people to think I suddenly went crazy. All you have to do is think and I can hear you.' _ the voice grunted unenthusiastically.

The woman blinked a few times before she leaned back against the wall next to the station and then complied.

'Okay, so where am I?' she inquired.

'_You _just _saw a sign that stated Resembool, right? Well, that's the name of our little town. I was going to head out on the train that was coming later today...but I think you are my priority right now, considering that I can't control my own body anymore. Any other questions before we get moving?' The voice explained._

'Yeah, who are you?' The woman wondered.

'_My name is Becka, and that was my question first anyway. What's your name?'_ The voice greeted dryly.

'...Adalia.' she squeaked.

'_I see...Adalia, what are you doing here,_ _in _my _body?' _ Becka questioned.

'I have no idea how I even got here, but I doubt I would be able to tell you my purpose for going somewhere I don't even know.' Adalia argued.

'_That's probably true. Ok, so do you remember where you were before you fell into my body or whatever just happened?'_ Becka asked apologetically.

'I was messing around with my ability to sense the electronics around me when I lost consciousness, then I dreamed about a white room and someone who said I had paid a toll of some sort. And then I found myself here...' Adalia informed politely.

'_...This sounds like something that one of the professors would know about. Edward and his brother Alphonse are alchemic professors here in Resembool. They've each written several books about their travels and I think I read something similar to this in one of them. Lets see...the best place to find one of them would probably be Resembool School of Alchemy and Alkahestry. If they aren't abroad then that's where we can find at least one of them, I'll give you directions as we go along, but ask me any questions you may have until we reach them, I'd rather you asked me than someone who might know me.'_ Becka advised.

'Thanks.' Adalia sighed gratefully.

With that conversation finished for the moment, Adalia got up and dusted herself off quickly before pausing again when Becka asked one last question.

'_Just for curiosity's sake, how old are you?' _Becka wondered

'Twenty...you?' Adalia said, divulging her age

'_Same here...' _Becka announced, contemplation in her voice.

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><p>After a quick walk through the town, following Becka's directions, Adalia finally found the school. Before she could knock the door was opened to reveal a handsome blond haired golden eyed man with what looked like an antenna sticking up from his hair. As Adalia started to ask if a professor was in, he snickered.<p>

"How are you doing, shorty? I thought you were going to go abroad and find a _real_ job instead of living in this small town apprenticing under me as a teacher here?"

'_Don't call me short, Jason Elric! Or I will make sure that your great-great-grandfather knows about you skimping on his lesson plans! (Don't say that, it just felt good to be able to say it "out loud" for once. He would kick my butt if he heard that.)'_ Becka yelled, then acknowledged.

'Then how should I reply?' Adalia asked, staring at Jason.

'_Just silence is fine, make him think I'm ignoring him. Try slipping into the building anyway.' _Becka suggested.

Adalia stepped to her right, trying to angle herself to slip in an opening she had spotted, but he blocked her from getting through.

"Ah, ah, ah. We wouldn't want anyone thinking you work under me, right?" Jason quipped.

'"_Under me?" That brat called me short again! That's it, I don't care what you do but make sure it has shock value Adalia!' _Becka shouted.

Adalia moved back a step and thought about ways she could shock this guy that would help the situation, tapping her pointer on her chin.

'You mentioned his grandfather, is he one of the professors you mentioned before?' Adalia observed.

'_That's great-great grandfather, but y__es. This idiot is so lazy he doesn't even teach half the material he is supposed to, but at least his students know that and supplement his classes with his cousin's classes. So he hasn't gotten in trouble for it yet. What are you thinking?'_ Becka drawled.

A grin slowly spread on Adalia's face.

'About asking after this grandfather.' she hinted.

'_W-wait, don't do that! You don't kno-' _Becka exclaimed, ignored by Adalia.

"I work under your great-great-grandfather, not you. Is he in?" Adalia stood there crossing her arms, glaring at Jason.

"Oh? You may be shorter than he is, but that means you're shorter than me too, so you would be working under me anyways!" He bragged, standing even taller than before.

'_Stop calling me short!' _Becka yelled again.

"You're probably right," Adalia conceded, to Becka's chagrin, "but I have to go see him anyways, so see ya!" Adalia yelled as she sped under Jason and into the school now that he was up and out of the way.

Jason's eyebrows shot up when "Becka" admitted to being short. She would always rant about it when he teased, perhaps he had gone too far this time? "He's not in." Jason called over his shoulder at the girl, shrugging when she continued running. He then proceeded to walk after her, he knew where she was headed since she always goes there after a fight with him.

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><p>Adalia quickly scampered down the hall to avoid getting caught by Jason as she searched for one of the professors.<p>

'_You know, I never thought I would be running through the halls of my school again, but then again, these are not normal circumstances.' _Becka chuckled while they ran.

'No kidding...you aren't the one running either.' Adalia panted.

'_Slight technicality..._

_'There it is! The last door on the left! The lights are on!'_ Becka urged.

'I hope you know what we're doing.' Adalia mumbled.

'_Catch the door and close it as you go through it so Jason can't follow, we can figure things out after that.' _Becka advised.

'Got it.' Adalia was barely able to catch the doorknob since she was running at top speed. When she had closed the door she saw the smiling face of who she guessed to be one of the professors sitting at his metal and wood desk while marking papers.

'_Alright! It's professor Al!'_ Becka exclaimed.

"What's the rush, Becka?" Al asked gently, his soft brown eyes twinkling brightly behind the glasses on his face.

'_Repeat this: Jason was teasing me again_,'

"Jason was teasing me again,"

'_Can you please grant me shelter.'_

"Can you please grant me shelter?"

"Why sure, Becka. Do you want to sit next to me for a bit and talk about it?"

"...Yes sir." Adalia replied nervously after a pause, remembering that she had to answer for Becka.

"So, what's wrong?" He asked after straightening out the homework he had been grading and putting it aside, "When you ask me like that you usually have more on your mind than just Jason's teasing, I thought you were on the train to Central by now, you said you wanted to be there early."

Adalia glanced quickly at the door, hearing Jason walking nearby, talking on the phone. Noticing that, Al clapped his hands and then touched the wall next to him, sealing the doorway and window. "The room is soundproof now if you need to ask something sensitive." He said with a smile.

"Thank you." Adalia sighed. Visibly relieved to be in the clear for now, she sat in a chair across from him.

'_Go ahead, talk to him.'_

'...ok.'

"Um, hello, my name is Adalia. It's nice to meet you, professor." Adalia heard a nearly audible slap that sounded like a facepalm and something Becka mumbled that sounded like "I'm crazy now" and "Hope he can see what's going on".

"Becka and I were hoping you or professor Ed might know how to help us with our current situation." Adalia continued, nervously playing with the hem of her shirt as Al contemplated what she said.

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><p><strong>Well. That was interesting. This is my first fanfiction, so please be nice but do point out anything that I have wrong or anything that you want to know at any time. It's been awhile since I read or watched any fma, so I'm drawing from my memories of the manga, the original anime, brotherhood, and conqueror of shamballa. I hope using multiple timelines as sources for one timeline won't hurt the story...oh well. We'll see what the effects are when we get there.<strong>

**I wanted to post today because today is when the story starts. However, I won't be able to post often enough to keep up with with life, please don't kill me for liking quality/forgoing time. **

**I have a drawing I plan to use, but I haven't gotten it from paper to digital yet so I will put it up later, I guess.**

**(1911 words...)**

**(Edit: Sorry, it's a slow start due to my unfamiliarity with this formatting...and just writing in general. It should get better later.)**

**Thanks for reading. :)**


	2. Chapter 2: (Fictional)Reality sets in

_"Um, hello, my name is Adalia. It's nice to meet you, professor." Adalia heard a nearly audible slap that sounded like a facepalm and something Becka mumbled that sounded like "I'm crazy now" and "Hope he can see what's going on"._

_"Becka and I were hoping you or professor Ed might know how to help us with our current situation." Adalia continued, nervously played with the hem of her shirt as Al contemplated what she said._

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><p>Professor Al smiled and took off his glasses, he folded them and lay them on his desk. "It's nice to meet you too, Adalia. How long have you been in Amestris?" He asked, holding his hand out.<p>

Adalia looked at the outstretched hand briefly before shaking it, "I think it's been about twenty or thirty minutes, with the walk here from the train station and running around the school to get here. However, I thought I was in Resembool?" She said, estimating the amount of time that passed since she first conversed with Becka as well as requesting confirmation of what she had been told.

"You _are_ in Resembool, it's a town in Amestris. How was the trip here?" Al asked, his head inclined slightly toward Adalia as he spoke, "I hope it wasn't too disastrous, all things considered." He nodded his head knowingly, she wasn't the first to cross worlds using the gate.

"Other than that I seem to have taken over someone's body somehow, I feel fine. Is that what you mean?" Adalia asked, having leaned back in her chair as she gazed around the room. Other than the wood and metal desk, there were several shelves lining the walls. Each shelf held a different curiosity, some were miniature models of buildings, others held sculptures of people or else were unidentifiable as anything that Adalia recognized. There was a window in the wall behind Al, as well as one in the wall to Adalia's right. There was also a chair sitting to Adalia's right, it was identical to the one she was sitting in. Then there were the papers that Al had been grading sitting on the desk, those were laying next to a small laptop that was currently showing a screensaver with the date and time as she saw the reflection on Al's glasses as they sat on the desk. Al himself had lost his smile, he was watching her with a worried expression as she looked around the room. Last was the door to the office, being closed and sealed it was rather uninteresting so Adalia looked back at Al.

"I had been dreaming when I came here, so it's not a big problem for me." She said with a shrug.

'_It's not a problem?'_ Becka's voice echoed.

"No, I said it's not a _big_ problem, Becka." Amber corrected aloud so the professor could hear, "Of course I would like my own body, but I don't see too much of a difference in yours. Especially considering that this still feels somewhat like a continuation of my dream." She remarked.

Al scratched the back of his head as his smile came back, "I'm glad you seem to be fine so far, Adalia, Although I would appreciate it if you learned to think of Amestris as reality. Afterall, I don't think I am a figment of your imagination." He said gently.

"I understand," Adalia said as she nodded, "It's just that the slightly dulled yet amazingly clear senses I use when I'm dreaming hasn't completely faded away yet, that and the longest dream I ever had went on for eight months during the space of a single night."

"Becka, would you like to be able to join this conversation?" Al asked, looking at Adalia as she listened for Becka's answer.

'_I would, I was staying quiet so that she could properly consider what happened when she arrived." _Becka said.

"She would like to join us, she was staying quiet so I could consider what happened when I arrived." Amber replied for Becka.

Al nodded and moved his chair back before looking through the desk drawers for a while, when he found what he was looking for he placed a purple notebook on the desk and pushed it toward Adalia. "You can write Becka's words in that. I was going to give it to one of the new students, which works since you are new and Becka was a student here until recently." Al said as he glanced at the door.

Adalia looked at the door when Al did, only then realizing that someone had knocked on it while Al was looking through the drawers.

Al got up from his seat and walked to the door. He opened it slightly to see who it was, but not far enough for them to see in the room.

"Gramps called, he asked if you knew that a human transmutation had been done in our area. He said you should look for it and take the agreed upon precautions with whatever you find. He was in a rush to get back here in case something happened, but it may still take a day for him to get here from Creta." The voice on the other side of the door stated lazily. Adalia recognized his voice and remained motionless as she and Becka listened.

"If he's already headed over then there should be no need to worry. Yes I am aware of it, and it's unusual this time. None of the "agreed precautions" fit this particular incident, it came to me rather than the other way around." Al spoke quietly, nodding briefly.

"I will let him know. Unless there are delays then expect him at…" The voice on the other side of the door replied, his voice getting quieter until only Al could hear what was said. Al nodded again at the information and shut the door, making sure it was soundproof again and turning back to Adalia.

"It looks like my brother will be arriving tomorrow, would you two mind staying in the school dorms tonight?" Al asked Adalia. "I tried to leave Becka's room available, but someone needed it so I'm renting it to them for a while since you were supposed to be leaving today." He explained. "There's a room with a spare bed on the third floor of the high school dorm. Becka, can you direct Adalia to room 327?" He asked again.

Adalia finally picked up the notebook and was looking for a pen when Al handed her one.

"_I can get her to the room, but you said 'spare bed' so are we sharing the room with someone?" _Becka inquired.

"Yes, you will be sharing. It should just be for tonight though, so it's not as if I asked you to stay with Jason, right? I know you wouldn't take that well." Al smiled encouragingly at Adalia and Becka.

"_Alright, just until we can figure out how I can do things again, as It is I can't even twitch a finger." _Becka grumbled, then sighed at her lack of ability to do anything.

After Adalia finished writing Becka's words she put the notebook on the seat beside her and put her head to her hands. "...m...s.r.y…" She mumbled.

Al's smile faltered slightly. "Perhaps we should go ahead and get you settled?" He suggested as he reset the room to normal again with a small clap.

Adalia nodded and stood. She walked over to the door with her head down and her arms limp by her sides. Al smiled gently and picked up the notebook before leading her out of the room and down the hall on the way to the dorm room.

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><p>'<em>Adalia….Hey!...'<em> Becka tried to get her to talk as they followed Al.

'I'm sorry. If I hadn't suddenly dropped in then you could have been living your normal life still. I interrupted it.' Adalia stated monotonically.

Al held the door as Adalia walked through it. she stood still long enough for him to get in front of her again and then they continued walking.

'_Well, I won't say that's wrong. However, you should know that I might have just turned into an aimless mediocre alchemist, if you hadn't shown up. Now that you're here, the both of us, or at least I do, have a higher motivation to do something about the situation. That's a plus, right?'_ Becka asked, she was growing slightly irritated at Adalia's sudden depression.

'...I suppose so,' Adalia sighed, almost everything going in one ear and out the other. 'but you can't do anything on your own right now because I'm in your way...' She sniffed as Al held the door to the dorm building open for her.

'_Why should I have to repeat myself?' _Becka asked as they walked toward the stairs to the third floor. '_I said already, we'll figure something out. I'm amazed it took you this long to figure out something I had already come to terms with. Now can you please _attempt _to not look depressed? Because you _are _kind of my_ face _right now, and I see what you see, etc.'_ Becka stated, not being used to encouraging someone, much less someone who was so similar to herself.

'Oh, right. Sorry.' Adalia apologized as she picked her head up and climbed up the stairs after Al, trying to look interested in the route to the place she would be staying.

'_That's a little better, how about I think of something interesting for you to keep your mind on while you follow him. That might help.'_ Becka said, as she thought up basic alchemic circles and showed them to Adalia.

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><p>"Are you alright?" Al asked Adalia with concern when he saw that she had stumbled on the last of the steps.<p>

"Y-yeah, I'm alright." Adalia said as she rubbed her knee that had bumped against the steps in front of her. "Just a bit surprised at something _she_ said." She continued, letting him know who she meant without saying anything that would seem too odd to anyone listening nearby.

'What was that?!' Adalia asked Becka when she had recovered.

'_I said, that is how alchemists work, in simple terms. They use circles like these basic ones in order to make things or move them.' _Becka repeated.

'So all it takes...is a drawing?' Adalia asked as she walked to where Al was standing near one of the doors in the hall.

'_I'd say the drawing is more of the catalyst than anything else, but different circles do different things and you still need the materials for the exchange that takes place. Since we _are _at a school for alchemy it will be a bit easier to teach you.'_ Becka replied as Al nodded with a smile, handed them a key and the notebook, and walked back to his office. He still had papers to grade and Becka could help Adalia from here, that and he didn't want to interrupt anything Becka might have been telling Adalia about the world she would be living in.

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><p>"Becka? I thought you had graduated already, why are you in my room?" Someone asked from behind Adalia as she sat at previously empty desk and studied basic alchemy.<p>

"I came back to…" Adalia started to reply with an agreed safe answer when Becka told her to be quiet and turn around.

'_Michael?!' _Becka gasped when she saw him_._

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><p><strong>Yay, I got another chapter done, and it looks like there will be several more to find out what exactly Adalia's situation is before I reveal one of her big secrets as well as how Ed and Al are still around!<strong>

**Adalia: How would I have a secret?**

**You do, you do. I want to make this story interesting, so you have a secret, actually...a few of them.**

**Becka: What is Michael doing here? I thought he...**

**Shh. You will have to find that out next time, If I say it now it wouldn't have the same effect.**

**I was going to post this on Friday, but seeing as I don't know when I will have the next chapter ready to post I thought I would just post the chapters as soon as they are done so you can read them. I know I haven't put up the cover yet, I'm having trouble finding a scanner to get it on the computer in good quality.**

**Let me know what you think of this with a review, I would like to know your thoughts on how this can be better.**


	3. Chapter 3: Understanding Becka

"_Becka? I thought you had graduated already, why are you in my room?" Someone asked from behind Adalia as she sat at previously empty desk and studied basic alchemy._

"_I came back to…" Adalia started to reply with an agreed safe answer when Becka told her to be quiet and turn around._

'Michael?!' _Becka gasped when she saw him._

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><p>"Michael?" Adalia asked, 'Who is this, Becka?'<p>

'_This is...'_ Becka began, only to stop when he started speaking again.

"It's actually Michaels. Future Prime Investigator Michaels Hughes, at your service. I'm a great-grandson of the late great investigator Elicia Hughes and her husband, the Freeheart alchemist, through their son Liam's son Christopher and _his_ son Maes, my father. How might I be of assistance to you, my old friend? " Michaels said with a small bow toward her.

'_...Yeah. He likes to introduce himself that way since he's so proud of his heritage. Do not let him think you are willing to listen, he will ramble on and on about her. The only person who could have possibly been more annoying when talking about Mrs. Hughes is her own father...at least, that seems to be what everyone still around who knew him says. Even though it's been so long, he still holds the record for most annoying in that respect.'_ Becka informed with a laugh. '_Still...I wonder why he's here. I thought he was still in Central's school of alchemy and alkehestry. Maybe he transferred after I graduated or something._

"How about telling me why you are here?" Adalia asked, still acting as Becka, "I thought you were studying in Central, did something happen while you were there?"

"Indeed, something did happen! One of the first things I have been told to practice is the investigation of someone's background, and the subject I have used for the past six months is myself. After all it seemed like a great time to find out more about my past and about my history." Michaels smiled as he spoke.

"O...Kay. But what does that have to do with why are you here in Resembool?" Adalia asked again.

"I traveled here yesterday to meet one of the people present at Elicia's birth, when I found out he wouldn't be here for a while I transferred so that I could continue my studies while I wait for him," '_Like_ _I thought.' _Becka said as Michaels took a breath. "I know it's him because I found some mentions of him and his brother in her mother's diary. I hope he gets back soon, I want to move back to Central quickly find out more." He said, sitting in the chair at the other desk.

Upon hearing this, Becka huffed. _'Nothing like hearing an old friend start rambling about his favorite topic. Stop him from over telling his tale, or we won't get anywhere with this.'_

"Um, I understand how important this is for you, but can you tell me about it later? I would like your help with something." Adalia questioned.

"Sure. What do you need help with?" Michaels asked, his eyebrows lifting in harmless inquiry.

"Um, well...how about moving in? I was supposed to leave for Central today but something came up so I ended up staying, however all I brought with me after leaving the station is this notebook and a key to this room that professor Al gave me." Technically that is what happened, but Adalia had no idea what kind of "Luggage" Becka had. That and she felt that maybe having a second tutor later might help her get through her studies faster so that she could get out of Becka's way. Both of these reasons added to why she asked him to help, even though that would mean having someone from Becka's past possibly learn about the situation before it was even partially resolved.

"Sure! I'd love to help! Just send me where your things are and I will bring them up!" Michaels grinned, jumping up from the chair and preparing to run out the door.

'_Hey...need I remind you that having people that know me close to us is dangerous? If anyone finds out something is up… we just _might _have gossip that I'm crazy floating around? Especially with this guy who is training to be an investigator!'_

'Need _I_ say that the more help we have, the faster I can get out of your hair? Why do you keep saying that anyway? Why would people automatically assume you're crazy?'

'_Alright, alright...it's a long story I would rather not get into that involves me trying to talk to a friend who nobody else could see. Needless to say, "one sided" conversations do not say much for one's apparent sanity.'_

'Did you try using a cell phone? It would make you appear to be talking to someone.'

'_I didn't, I was only 12 at the time. I didn't get a cell phone until I was 15.'_

"Becka?" Michaels asked, sitting back down in the chair and leaning toward Becka and Adalia.

Adalia startled slightly when Michaels spoke, 'Fudge, we left him waiting! Where are your things, Becka?'

'_Already in Central, supposedly. I sent them ahead of me a few days ago, all I have left is in a duffle bag that can be found in my room...but Al said he had rented it out to someone else already!'_

"Um, It's in the room I was staying in before." Adalia replied to Michaels. 'Becka! Where's the address?'

'_Here. it's...'_ Becka said, pulling the address out of her memory and showing it to Adalia as she wrote it down.

"Here's the address, there might be someone there but I trust you can find my one duffle bag?" Adalia said with a smile as she handed the note she had torn from her notebook to Michaels.

"Right away, I'll be back in a jiffy!" He said as he took the note and ran out the door.

'I suppose your phone is in that bag too?' Adalia asked Becka as she put her head in her hands.

'_No. I actually don't have a working one at the moment, they seem to break rather easily nowadays, which is why I am being so adamant that you don't do something that will come across as me being crazy again. Last time was right before I got my first cell phone, but I have studied with the same people all five years since, so I figured I'd have to move if I wanted to get away from the possibility of being teased about it again...if you couldn't tell from the way I acted with Jason, I don't respond well to antagonism about being called crazy or short.'_

'I understand wanting to get away from antagonism, I've had my share of it too, but not everyone is antagonistic.' Adalia replied in Michaels' defense, 'There are those who would be understanding and helpful too, myself being one of those.' Adalia patted Becka's head, which was her own, before continuing, 'Al said it would be just one night here, but what if we can't figure things out that quickly? We would have to stay another night and that would raise his suspicion more than being honest about it would. Since we will be living with him It would be kinder to let him know about it.'

'_You would have to be careful when you introduce the topic then. I don't want to go anywhere near the same mistake again.' _Becka stated flatly.

'I understand. Timing is important for that sort of thing.' Adalia grinned at a mirror that was sitting on the desk.

'_So with now three people who know about us, soon to be four, are you going to keep increasing the number until the whole world knows about our weird incident?'_

'Not nearly that many, just the people who I think have the ability and personality to help us.'

'Fine._ Since there aren't that many people who would be willing to be kind about it, much less help, I'll let you talk to Michaels about it. Any other time you want to do that you will have to show me how you think the person will help, ok?'_

'Alright, We can think about it later though, right? He just went to get your things from your room so no one is here and I'm a bit tired after all the information you have been teaching me since I got here two hours ago.' Adalia said as she closed the notebook and got up from the desk.

'_There will be time to talk more later, yes. Are you planning on napping until he gets back?' _Becka asked as Adalia sat on the bed briefly before flopping on her back, rolling to her side, and pulling the covers to her neck.

'Yes.' Adalia replied, her eyes closing as she fell asleep.

"I see.." Becka said as she opened her eyes.

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><p><strong>WEEEEE! *Runs around in circles for no reason* This little chapter gave me writer's block briefly, but it was fun writing it anyway.<strong>

**So, yeah. Since it's 100 years later, not many of those who are alive knew Maes. But that's not stopping Michaels who apparently has a throwback personality with the same obsession Maes had: Elicia. However, as stated in the story, it's not quite as strong as Maes' was. Is Michaels a reincarnation of Maes? Nope! However, his father is named after him. :D**

**Cell phones? Yes, technology has caught up to our world in many ways, but this device in particular advanced pretty quickly because communication is important to the military of Amestris. I might tell you how they work later on in the story.**

**Becka: So, did I regain control? I was able to open my eyes….**

**Yes! We will be figuring out exactly how in the next chapter if all goes as planned. :)**

**Again, dear readers, review? I would like to know your thoughts! Have I been keeping Al in character in the first two chapters? What do you think of Adalia and Becka? Is there something I haven't written clearly that may have confused you? There are some things I just don't know without your help.**


	4. Chapter 4: An unexpected Truth

'_There will be time to talk more later, yes. Are you planning on napping until he gets back?' _Becka asked as Adalia sat on the bed briefly before flopping on her back, rolling to her side, and pulling the covers to her neck.

'Yes.' Adalia replied, her eyes closing as she fell asleep.

"I see.." Becka said as she opened her eyes.

* * *

><p>Becka blinked. Then she blinked again. When she realized she really <em>could<em> see, she sat up.

'Hey! Adalia, are you there?' She thought, unsure of why she suddenly had control back.

'_Hmm? Becka...I'm trying to sleep...goodnight.'_ Adalia replied faintly.

Becka sighed with relief. She could barely hear her, but she could tell she was still there. For a while, Becka thought that just going to sleep had caused Adalia to leave already, and that would have left Becka with an unsolved mystery. 'Alright, I was just making sure you were ok, sleep well.' She said as she pulled off the covers and went back to the desk after making the bed.

Becka sat at the desk again, having realized that pulling up pictures from memory won't teach Adalia more than the simplest of lessons. So she pulled out several alchemy books and started taking notes in the notebook that explained the basics of alchemy. She wasn't able to do more than an overview by the time Michaels got back.

"I have retrieved the bag of duffle that you have requested of me, dear friend." He said as he pulled the duffle bag off his back and set it on the ground near Becka's bed with a small chuckle. "Do you have a ton of bricks in here? That's a heavy load to carry on your back."

"They're just my old school books." Becka admitted with a laugh, "I was going to bring them with me to Central." She said as she got up and walked over to the bed, squatting so that she could open the bag.

"That bag sure is full for a bunch of schoolbooks." Michaels commented.

"It's not just from last year. It's a lifetime's worth of books." Becka replied, now glad for the nostalgic mood that had occurred while she was packing this bag. She picked one book from near the bottom of one of the stacks that were laying sideways in the bag and brought it to the desk. She opened it to a bookmarked page and got right back to writing notes.

* * *

><p>As time passed, Becka quickly went from looking through the elementary books to the middle school books, then the junior high books. Sometimes she made notes in the margins of the notebook that occurred to her as easier ways to understand the theories.<p>

She had just pulled out a high school textbook when a new circle design occurred to her. She put the book aside and turned to a new page. With pen in hand and circle in mind, she started drawing. As soon as she finished that circle another popped in her head, so she drew that one too. Then another came up, and then another one. Every time she finished one circle another one came to mind. She kept drawing circles until Michaels noticed how odd they were and asked what she was doing.

"I'm drawing circles that are just popping in my head. However, I haven't seen many of them before so they could probably use some research." Becka replied, having finished the last circle so far. "Many of these designs look like they are plant type or earth type circles, with a modification I have never seen. What do you think it is?" She asked him as he looked over her shoulder at the notebook.

"I'm not sure what that is. Do you want to take them to a professor?" Michaels said as he shrugged.

"Maybe so. But there's another one to draw, first." Becka said as she turned back to the desk and started drawing again. This circle was very different from the others. It was larger than the others, taking up an entire page out of the notebook, but it was also fundamentally different. It looked like the modification that was in each of the other circles had become the base of this circle. And the bases of the other circles became simple modifications in this circle.

"...that one...looks a bit dangerous." Michaels commented as he looked from the notebook to Becka and back again.

"That's understandable. I think this one is somehow connected to Truth's realm." Becka replied in a low tone. She stared at the circle and wondered where it came from, although she may have a better idea than Michaels did as to it's source.

'Adalia, Michaels is back. Are you going to wake up or will you continue sleeping away your time here?' Becka leaned back and stared at the ceiling as she tried to converse with her sleeping twin. She closed her eyes to see if that would make it easier to talk to her, and it did.

_'Alright, I'll be there in a bit.'_ Adalia yawned.

_'I wrote out some notes on lessons in the notebook for you using the books in the bag Michaels went to get. I also ended up drawing some odd circles that should be taken to a professor before anything is done with them.'_ Becka said as Adalia opened her eyes.

'Thanks for the help, Becka.' Adalia thought, picking her head up. 'Alvaro thanks you too.'

'_Who's Alvaro?'_ Becka asked.

'A friend of mine that I meet with in my dreams, although he looked a little different than usual this time, a little more normal. I don't know what exactly he's thanking you for though.' Adalia replied, glancing up at where Michaels was still standing next to her. "How are you doing, Michaels? I hope it wasn't too much for you to get the duffle bag?"

Michaels simply smiled at Adalia. "It was no problem at all. The location wasn't that far from here." He said. "Although next time you send me to professor Al's house, you might want to make sure that I know exactly where the item is that you want." He winked at her as he continued in a conspiratorial whisper.

"If I have to do that again I will definitely let you know." Adalia replied with a smirk, making a note of the address being where to find the professor if he's not at school. "But there was more to my request that you help me move in than just bringing my luggage. Another aspect of moving in is settling in, right? It's almost six, what were you planning on doing for dinner?"

Michaels' eyes widened slightly as he looked at Adalia, Becka was equally surprised at her straightforwardness. "I was going to go out to eat, do you want to pick where we go?" he asked her.

"I don't know." Adalia shrugged with a grin. "I was hoping you could surprise me." She said as she turned back to the notebook so she could do a quick look through before dinner. The page it was open to was the last circle that Becka had drawn. When Adalia spotted it, she froze. The circle reflected the light coming in from the window on the other side of the room, leaving the impression that the circle was glowing as the sun was getting ready to set.

Michaels didn't miss when Adalia suddenly tensed up, he looked back at the circle to see what happened but wasn't fast enough to see it before Adalia slammed the book closed and tossed it on her bed like it was on fire. "What's wrong?" he asked as he watched Adalia breathing quickly, "You just finished drawing that five minutes ago."

"I...I did?" Adalia asked.

'_Well, technically, I drew it. However, he's right.'_ Becka explained.

"That… Becka, how would you know about that? Alvaro told me he made that for me." Adalia asked, unaware that she said it aloud, as she stared at the notebook and panicked.

'_Adalia!'_ Becka shouted, she did not want to be called crazy yet again. Adalia had once again referenced the person she met in her dreams, it felt eerily similar to her own daydreams when talking to Ernie.

"Becka," Michaels said at the same time, ignoring for the moment that it seemed like she used her own name as an interjection. "for one thing, who's Alvaro? For another, you drew that circle, then leaned back and closed your eyes, then asked me about dinner." Michaels raised a concerned eyebrow at Adalia, still not knowing that she was not Becka.

"O-oh, sorry." Adalia said. She took a deep breath and shook her head to erase the shock that had taken over. "Alvaro is someone I often dream with, I didn't mean to mention him aloud."

Silence entered the room, it looked around briefly before sneaking out of the room once more.

"This would be as good a time as any to explain, I guess." Adalia whispered quietly. She got out of her chair and retrieved the notebook and fixed any pages that had been bent when it landed.

"If you feel the need to do so, you may. I won't force you nor say anything to keep you from speaking." Michaels spoke quietly, finally sitting on his own bed and facing her.

Adalia fiddled with the notebook for a moment more and the looked up at Michaels, the determination in her eyes shouldn't have surprised him after what had just happened, but it did.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello again everyone, nice to type to you again.<strong>

**I hope this chapter is alright. It wrote itself today after my not writing anything for the previous week. School-work and some other things took priority since it was a test week.**

**Becka: You would think she would a little better with time-hmph.**

***covers mouth* Yes, yes...I know I need to get better at that. Some things really do keep me from doing anything though, so it wasn't always my fault. I have another assignment coming up that might take away my time this week, but I'll try to post something soon.**


	5. Chapter 5: To begin a journey

_"This would be as good a time as any to explain, I guess." Adalia whispered quietly. She got out of her chair and retrieved the notebook and fixed any pages that had been bent when it landed._

_"If you feel the need to do so, you may. I won't force you nor say anything to keep you from speaking." Michaels spoke quietly, finally sitting on his own bed and facing her._

_Adalia fiddled with the notebook for a moment more and the looked up at Michaels, the determination in her eyes shouldn't have surprised him after what had just happened, but it did._

* * *

><p>The explanation took a good 30 minutes, by the time it had ended Michaels had had his jaw drop 5 times with his eyes widening at least 7 times. When they were finished he pointed out that Alvaro hadn't been mentioned, but that made Adalia ask if it was time for dinner and then clamp her mouth shut and not say anything for a while after that.<p>

"Your situation is very intriguing. I will help you, if only to find out for myself what happened." Michaels agreed as he ate. The food in the school cafe was good today. He hoped it would get Adalia to stop being mad at him, so that's where he took her to eat.

It worked. Adalia smiled as she thanked Michaels for his future help. "There's so much I want to ask you about!" She said, having paused in eating to exclaim in happiness. She was so excited to start studying that she didn't notice the blond who glanced toward the table where the two of them, one with brown hair and one with black, were eating.

Becka had graduated months ago, and was supposed to have already left town. Michaels was technically the new kid comparatively, and he was younger than Becka by a couple years. The fact that both of them were together, and she was speaking to him like that, influenced a certain someone to decide that it was time to interrupt. "Hey, shorty! I thought you left town already, did you really stay just to see this new student with no alchemy talent whatsoever? His alkahestry is even worse!" He said as he walked up to their table.

Adalia stopped talking and shot Jason a glare without turning her head away from Michaels. Admittedly it hurt her eyes to look up at Jason like that, so she looked back at Michaels with a smile and spoke. "Perhaps his teacher needs to learn that alchemy isn't the only thing to look for in someone's background. He's an investigator-in-training, and he's my roommate for now." She smirked at the way Jason's lips twitched. "That and I'm still here because professor Al asked me to stay and meet his brother tomorrow."

"He did?!" Both gold eyes, and black eyes, widened and stared at her.

"So that's why Gramps is in a rush," Jason snorted as he crossed his arms. "and why you didn't leave. You don't seem to have anything wrong with you, but I am willing to guess from what I heard of your conversation that you told this guy what happened and not me?"

"Can I talk with him when you finish tomorrow?" Michaels asked excitedly, his plate now empty. "I've been waiting to interview him for a while now so I can get back to Central and continue my normal studies."

"Yes, I didn't want to bother you with it, and yes. Michaels, you can even go ahead of me. I will have time to speak with him after you finish." Adalia said confidently as she finished her own meal. Her hazel eyes stared back at both boys with sparks of mischief.

"Yippee!" It was Michaels turn to rejoice at the turn of events, "I get to talk to _Ed_! I get to _talk_ to Ed! _I_ get to talk to Ed! I _get_ to talk to Ed! I get to talk _to_ Ed!" He kept repeating the phrase, emphasizing the different parts of it aloud in the order that they occurred to him.

'_That's enough, shut him up or he will get more annoying.' _Becka finally spoke.

'Hey, you're back. What were you up to while I was eating dinner with these two?' Adalia asked brightly.

'_I was talking to my friend, the one that got me called crazy, and he mentioned that Alvaro's gift to you should be opened tonight. Wait...two? I thought you were just eating with Michaels."_ Becka asked, stunned slightly.

'Jason spotted us while we were eating and walked over.' Adalia said, causing Becka to groan and observe the current situation.

"So just because you didn't want to bother me with it, you didn't tell me anything? It wouldn't bother me at all! What do you think I am, some kind of sloth too tired to do anything to help or what?" Jason asked, interrupting Michaels with a scowl. His eyes finally looked away from Adalia and out the window they were sitting next to.

"..."

"..."

"_...He admitted it aloud."_

"Yeah, ok. I set myself up for that one didn't I?" Jason said as he brushed his right hand through his hair as his left hand went to his hip. "However, I still want you to include me in this. I could help you more than this guy could." He said as he pointed at Michaels.

A rattle sound came from window where the food was served as it was closed, alerting the four of them to the fact that the cafe was closing soon.

"This is just great... Do you mind if I follow you two home?" Jason asked optimistically.

'_I mind,'_ Becka grumbled, '_but I don't expect you to say no because of that.'_ She told Adalia.

Adalia took the next moment to share a look with Michaels before they both nodded and allowed him to come with them.

* * *

><p>Back in the bedroom the group of now five people, they had stopped by professor Al's place to ask him to come check out the weird circles, sat (or in Jason's case, stood) in various places of the room that let them see the open notebook.<p>

"This is definitely connected to the realm of Truth." Professor Al said hesitantly, sitting in the chair at Michaels' desk, "However, it's not a human transmutation circle. Is there a particular reason you want to activate it now?" he asked Adalia.

"Not that I would like to share, but there is one." Adalia said, her face wrinkled by worry as she sat on the floor cross-legged in the middle of the room. "I can only say that it needs to be done tonight, any later and something will have happened to him."

"Do you know what kind of materials are needed for this?" Michaels asked from his position on his bed, as the youngest in the room he was the only student there.

"None. Just force of will applied to the surface. There is nothing else that I can feel it asking for." Adalia said with a shake of her head.

"You can tell what the equivalent exchange is by feeling?" Jason looked at Becka from his position leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room from Al, impressed and one of the only two in the room who understood the significance of knowing instinctively what any circle needs to work properly without having to see it.

"Yeah, it has something to do with the electricity that I can sense in the air. I can't read it at all." Adalia replied.

"Very impressive. Then, with two teachers present to observe the activation of this unknown circle, you may begin." Al said as Jason nodded.

Adalia took a deep breath, finding the amount of determination she would need to unlock the circle, and slapped her hands down. She applied as much physical pressure as she could and then added in her force of will until it reached the level required.

Everyone watched as the circle lit up, sparks flying everywhere. What surprised them wasn't the fact that the circle had been activated perfectly by a complete amateur, nor was it that sparks were flying everywhere as the amount of force applied to the circle increased. No, what surprised them was the color of the sparks and the color of the circle as it glowed brightly.

It was not the bright green of medical alchemy nor the sky blue of normal alchemy, neither was it the dark indigo of human transmutation nor the crimson red of alchemy performed with a philosopher's stone. No. The sparks flying around, and the circle that glowed, were sunset orange as the circle increased in brightness.

Adalia kept applying as much determination as possible, but five minutes in she was getting tired. Even Becka was starting to wonder why this circle was taking so long to activate when the orange finally changed, creating a yellow flash that occurred as the alchemy settled down.

Adalia nearly collapsed in relief when the alchemy finally disappeared leaving behind a series of books entitled "Understanding the basics of Time-Space and Dream-Space, a simple guide to time travel and unlimited constructs for the untaught mind. By E. and A." and what looked like a photo of four people, two sets of twins standing back to back against each other. The girls both looked like Becka and were standing back to back facing the camera, and the boys were standing back to back a little ways behind the girls and looking at them. The boys faces were mostly hidden by the girls, but all four looked like they were having fun either comparing heights or telling jokes. In the middle of the picture, going along the length of the photo where the backs of the children met, was an almost imperceptible line that separated the twins. In addition to these things, there were several assorted items that appeared where at one point only the notebook had sat. There was a small black backpack with an orange flamel on one side and a yellow flamel on the other. Pens of various inks and styles were lined up side by side - some dating back several decades, some even more advanced than was seemingly possible. Several pairs of gloves were packed in a pocket sized suitcase that sat open, each pair had a different design suited to a different era in time. A watch was sitting on a display stand, but it was clearly not a normal watch as it kept changing colors and designs every ten seconds. The last item was a small blank black tablet that looked somewhat like an I-pad mini, but seemingly without any way to control it.

As everyone stared at this small pile of stuff that appeared out of thin air only Adalia and Becka noticed when the circle that everything had come from shifted and turned into a note.

"Adalia and Becka. I would like to introduce to you both the items you will need to achieve your goals as we talked about during my most recent visit to each of you, as well as some of the people you will have to rely on, learn from, and fight with. I understand that this will be difficult for you, no requests I make are ever easy. However, from the times I have spent with you, and the years I have watched you, I have learned that you two are not to be underestimated even by me. I am no longer going to show you just a single face of mine, but there are things that need to happen before our next visit. With things as they are I wish you good luck, and a safe journey, until we meet again. ~TRUTH"

When the two of them finished reading the note they looked at the pile of things on the floor around them and then back at the paper, only to see that the note had turned back into the circle and was now a dull gray color instead of the shiny black ink it had been to begin with.

"A book series, a photo of Becka and a few other people I've never seen, a backpack with two different colored flamels, pens, gloves, a weird watch, and a device that doesn't work. What exactly is all this, and how the heck did it come from a circle that's only requirement was that it was activated?" Jason asked, his loud voice filled with incredulity right before his phone buzzed.

* * *

><p><strong>AAAND...CUT!<strong>

**Explanation reactions, circle testing, random items, and a letter from truth. What should I put in the chapter title? Oh! What about "Truth's intentions"?**

**This chapter was hard to write at first considering that this chapter brings together a few loose strands from all the previous chapters (I hope I found enough of them), and adds a few new elements, literally.**

**Truth **_**may**_ **be a bit out of character, but hey, Adalia and Becka are the first interesting thing that's happened since Ed's adventures, so he had probably gotten a little bored. Especially since the development of the H.T.S., or Human Transmutation Sensor, in Amestris by one Edward Elric. More about that in the story later.**

**In other news, I finished the assignment I was working on and got permission to use this story for my next assignment. It just needs to be five pages in a month, so I will write up a shorter version and try to keep this going too. (It should be easy since I was working on this a little bit every day for the past week to make sure everything followed the planned setup…) Should I post the shorter version here so you can see where I'm headed with this? Also, just now thinking of saying this, I don't have a beta reader. Anybody want to help?**


	6. Chapter 6: Alvaro and Dream-space

_'Hey! Adalia, are you there?' _Becka's worried voice broke through to Adalia's dream.

'Hmm? Becka...I'm trying to sleep...goodnight.' Adalia mumbled, weariness finding it's way into her voice.

There was a few moments of silence, then Becka spoke again, _'Alright, I was just making sure you were ok, sleep well.'_

"Thanks for your concern." Adalia replied aloud, she blinked up at the ceiling of the room she was in, cross-patterns weaved their way through the ceiling tiles.

"You are finally awake." Said Alvaro, "Or should I say finally asleep? After all, that's the only way you can come here." His twelve year old voice chuckled.

Adalia turned her head and stared at him, his bright blond hair framing his face in such a way that her vision was pulled toward his white silver eyes.

"Are you going to get up, off of the floor, any time soon? I don't know how long you will be able to stay here this time, and I want to hang out with you while I can." He said with a grin.

She just smirked and didn't answer him, closing her eyes and stretching her arms above her head.

"If you could draw something for me, your work would be very much appreciated." His grin shifted to a soft smirk that at the same time showed both gratefulness, and teasing.

"You shouldn't rely so heavily on others. What if one day I can't see you, then what will you do?" Adalia smirked back at him as she sat up, the emotion that flashed in his eyes when she said that passed unnoticed.

"We will find that out sooner than we would like, but for now let's just talk about you. You met someone new, didn't you?" He asked, his eyes glanced down briefly before he changed the topic.

Adalia stopped and thought for a minute, she met several people in the last few hours. She wondered which one he was talking about and shrugged. "I met an entire new world today, it is a little hard to narrow it down to one person I met."

"What about the person you are closest to in this "new world"? That should be an easier question." Alvaro asked, his tone holding only the slightest bit of sarcasm mixed in with his curiosity, as he held a pale hand out to help Adalia to her feet.

"Becka? She's interesting. She's been explaining the world to me since she can't do much else right now. I sorta, kinda...have been using her body." Adalia said, her voice trailing off on the last sentence as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes in order to look around the room.

Alvaro stood with her silently. He held her hand as he waited for her to continue, when she didn't say anything for a while he commented on it. "You're so quiet now, is that the only thing that keeps her from doing anything else? She could have been less helpful and let you wander around on your own, but she didn't."

"I know," Adalia sighed. "But even now I feel like I'm in her way, it's not like I meant to interfere…"

"I don't think she feels like that, but then again it may not be my place to say. She is her own person." He smiled gently. "Perhaps we can cheer you up a little, how about a few games of chess before we get started," he asked as he gestured to a table with not only chess, but also checkers, go, shogi, and a number of other games that Adalia liked playing. Her eyes lit up at the sight of her favorite games.

With Adalia now fully interested in the game she sits at the table for, Alvaro stares into space briefly before sitting down and preparing to play against her.

* * *

><p>Several games later, Adalia is happy from stretching her mind for strategy and tactics she needed to at least match even with Alvaro. He is quite the challenge when he wants to be, and yet she knew he was still going easy on her.<p>

"That was fun, want to play again?" he asked, his face almost entirely filled with an ear to ear grin that stretched his face more than most people would be able to bear.

Adalia stood from where she was seated while they had been playing a game of go, her nerves felt like they had been tied together before the game and had been freed so that she was able to think without fear. "I dunno," she said, "didn't you have something you wanted me to do? I'm feeling much better now already." She asked him, falling quiet so she could hear his answer.

"I did, but I was waiting for you to bring it up again. You would refuse if I pushed you into it," he said, raising an eyebrow in good fun.

"Fine then. lets go see what you have for me to do." Adalia said as she laughed, "To the drawing room!"

Alvaro smiled as she ran off with her fists in the air, of course she would know where everything is, it's her dream world after all. He chuckled at her childish attitude and was about to follow her when something caught his eye. There was a flatscreen television in the room and it looked like it was showing what Becka was doing, even if it was muted. He raised an eyebrow as he stared at it, an idea coming to mind. He recognized the theories that she was writing out and seeing them reminded him of something that he could do for both of his friends. He grinned as he turned away from the tv and set out for the drawing room, all they would need now was a small push or two in the right direction and they would be ready to pull their potential out.

* * *

><p>"So if you draw these two lines here and here, then this equation is cancelled out by this one, and the exchange becomes null, allowing you to store and retrieve items." Alvaro pointed out the places in the circle he was creating as he drew them. "But remember, it can only be used once. I want you to practice with a few things first, then I will let you draw one that I will pack for you, ok?"<p>

The two of them had been working in the drawing room and library for a while. After Adalia had redrawn the bookshelves that had disappeared the last time she was there, Alvaro had asked her to retrieve some books from the library and had begun activating the circle that would send what they were working on to Becka's mind. Once that was in place, he checked on the status of the gate once again. He may have spaced out when he did that, but at least there would be no breaches of the rules. Adalia's body was still at her gate, and no one else was forcing theirs open or anything.

Alvaro was now teaching Adalia about a circle that would allow her to transfer things from the dream world to the real world, she picked up the basics of how it worked quickly and was soon able to draw her own. The practice items ended up being no more than simple stones or sticks that were laying around outside. Once they knew it worked, Alvaro had Adalia draw the circle while he went to get the items from the next room over. He set the items down on the circle and they watched as the circle glowed yellow with the items disappearing in a flash of orange light.

"That was cool!" Adalia said, clapping her hands. "Can we watch Becka draw this one?" she asked excitedly.

"Sure," Alvaro replied, "Let's go back to the game room, I spotted a tv in there that would help us out." He took her hand and led her to the first room they were in and pointed to the tv in the corner, "There it is, she's already started on it," he said as he pulled out two chairs from where the games were so that they could sit close enough to watch. As Becka drew each stroke Adalia got sleepier, with the last movement of the pen Adalia fell asleep, her head tilted forward and a soft snoring came from her. Alvaro smiled softly, he brushed her hair away from her face and hugged her close before he picked her up and carried her, bridal style, to the long red couch near where he found her.

"It's always so nice to see you, Adalia, you brighten up my day." He whispered as he set her down and put a blanket over her.

"I'm glad. You brighten my day too…" Adalia mumbled, her eyes half open.

_'Adalia, Michaels is back. Are you going to wake up or will you continue sleeping away your time here?'_ Becka's voice echoed around the room, waking Adalia.

'Alright, I'll be there in a bit.' she yawned, blinking her eyes.

"This will be the last time I can see you like this for a while, please tell Becka I said 'thank you'?" Alvaro asked quietly.

"Yes, I will tell her." Adalia said, holding his hand as she closed her eyes once more.

_'I wrote out some notes on lessons in the notebook for you using the books in the bag Michaels went to get. I also ended up drawing some odd circles that should be taken to a professor before anything is done with them.'_ Becka said as Adalia opened her eyes.

'Thanks for the help, Becka.' Adalia thought, picking her head up. 'Alvaro thanks you too.'

* * *

><p><strong>Whoohoo! That was fun.<strong>

**As you can see, this is Adalia's side of what goes on during her nap while Michaels is picking up the dufflebag. I hope you like Alvaro.**

**As for the mention of a school assignment last time, I decided on a different story for that, so I won't be doing a oneshot or anything like that for this story for a while longer.**

**Hey! For once I actually know what I will write in the next chapter before I post this one! :) lol. Next chapter will focus on where Becka went while Michaels took Adalia to dinner, so you will get to meet her friend too.**

**Um...I guess that's all for now. Until next time. *waves***


	7. Chapter 7: Ernie and Time-space

'_Well, technically, I drew it. However, he's right.'_ Becka explained.

"That… Becka, how would you know about that? Alvaro told me he made that for me." Adalia asked, unaware that she said it aloud, as she stared at the notebook and panicked.

'_Adalia!'_ Becka shouted, she did not want to be called crazy yet again. Adalia had once again referenced the person she met in her dreams, it felt eerily similar to her own daydreams when talking to Ernie.

* * *

><p>Becka started zoning out about halfway into Adalia's explanation to Michaels, her thoughts going to what Adalia said about Alvaro. The fact that she had someone she met in her dreams reminded Becka of Ernie… It had been a while since Becka had been able to talk to him without without worrying about whether or not she would be seen. She winced at the thought that her fears may have pushed away such a good friend. She was a normal girl raised in a normal family, so she wanted to be treated normally. When the other kids caught her talking to the air that first day, they had over repeated their taunts so many times that the taunts had started to echo in her head.<p>

"You know, if you hadn't let them get to you like that, I would have helped you out sooner." Ernie spoke up, phasing into existence in front of Becka as she stared at the floor blankly. His pale skin contrasted with the black of the surroundings other than a small opening in a wall that showed what Adalia was doing. The frown on his face as he folded his arms and the way he leaned against nothing but air with his legs crossed at the ankle made him look like someone who didn't like something he had had to do. He watched Becka as her eyes came into focus and she lifted her head to meet his gaze.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't brave enough to face them myself. I felt overwhelmed by their pressure." Becka replied, her eyes held such regret that it was possible to see near heartbreak and fear in them. Ernie sighed and unfolded his arms, using his right hand to pat her head as they turned to watch Adalia explain things to Michaels. There was a comfortable silence between the two of them for a while.

"Have you told Adalia about me?" Ernie asked, his dark grey eyes turned to face her once more.

Becka didn't say anything for a while more, and then, "Not really, I never tell anybody about you. It's something that just kind of fell into habit after _that_." she said as she sat on the floor and pulled her arms around her knees in an attempt to hug herself.

Ernie kneeled in front of Becka and hugged her. "She is someone you can trust. She has been through many of the same things you have, including being able to talk to me." He said, holding her by her shoulders as he pulled back from the hug to get a look at her face. "Her experiences with Alvaro are much like yours are when you and I talk like this. She has her own way of expressing things, but you _are_ twin souls. She is you, in a manner of speaking, which is why she landed here. She wants to help you while she can, will you let her?"

Becka's cheeks became wet as tears started falling, one by one at first, until they became a steady stream down her face. "Yes, I want her help, I just don't know how to ask for it!" Her voice broke as she cried. She reached up and pulled Ernie back into the hug that he had left, her tears dampened his shirt briefly, but since they were in a daydream it dried quickly. They sat on the floor together as Becka continued to cry, Ernie rubbed her back as he waited for her to finish.

"What would you like her help with?" He asked when she had calmed down enough to talk again, the tears were no longer falling but her breathing was still shaky. "We can write down a list of things you want to do in the future so that you can show it to Adalia when you feel ready to. There's no rush, we can work on it together and you can stay here for as long as you need to come up with it. I enjoy my time with you. You make me remember times when I was much busier, for example the first few years of Professor Edward Elric's adventures come to mind with all the chaos that came with his search for a philosopher's stone, but at the same time you make me remember times even calmer than now, before the disaster of Xerxes changed everything."

Becka looked up at Ernie's face and blinked. Did he just say he was around even before Xerxes fell? He looked no older than 27, how could that be?

"Don't look at me that way, I don't exactly age." Ernie said as he blew out a quick puff of air to move his dark blonde bangs out of his way. "I appear this way because you need it the most often, but to most people I end up looking like a blob of white that resembles someone of their age, race, gender, and whatever else that would show that I am them, that included Dwarf by the way." He said, referencing dwarf-in-the-flask who was trouble from Xerxes to Amestris until Edward fought him. "In addition to that, I have to use every single voice that's a part of me all at once when I'm in that form. It gets exhausting to keep up sometimes, and it's always the same thing over and over when people show up who don't believe me. You and Adalia are the first to do so in a long time, in fact, you two may have been the first to believe me before you even saw me." The faraway look in Ernie's eyes made Becka want to hug him again, but she simply leaned against him and listened. "I never thought that I, for one, would be nostalgic for something that happened in the past, but the days we have spent together and the fact that I could let you girls see me like this… it's relaxing. Being everyone and everything at once, while that is what I am, it's a huge job; one that I will have to concentrate on again soon, and that means that I won't be able to come see you or have you come see me." He looked back at Becka, a hint of sadness behind the look he gave her even as he smiled. "but, back to the original topic, do you want to talk about things you can get Adalia to help you with?" He asked her.

"Maybe I will, but if you like hanging out with us so much, then why not hang out some more before you have to go?" Becka asked him, searching his eyes.

"Because the amount of time I have until Ed crashes in on me again is getting smaller by the second, once he gets there I will have no peace whatsoever, and I would rather have the time to make sure that he stays away from me at least a little while longer." Ernie laughed, "Both he and his brother have been living so long because neither of them really trust me too much." He said with a wry smile.

Becka finally gave in and hugged Ernie, surprising him briefly before he warmly hugged her back. "I wish I could help you." She said softly.

"You _can_ help me. In fact, both of you can. I just taught Adalia how to utilize her dreamspace as storage for real life items. If you would like, then I can teach you the same thing. It will be easier after all, since you have already drawn the circle for it at least once." Ernie was grinning now and Becka raised an eyebrow at that.

"I would rather not do the same thing she can, but I do want my abilities to complement hers if it means we can work together. You said you needed more time, can you teach me how to help you with that?" Becka asked half jokingly.

"Sure, that sounds like "Time-Space" to me." Ernie laughed, "Give me a few moments to think about how to teach you how to do it, since it gets a little complicated, then we can work together until you know how to use it. I will even add your things to Adalia's storage circle afterward if you want, so that anything we make for your use will come with you." He said with a gentle smirk as he laid back rather quickly, which caused Becka to fall with him since she was still leaning on him.

"Hey! You did that on purpose!" Becka said, a playful pout formed on her face as she got off of him and sat next to him.

"Yes, I did." He said, his smirk never leaving, "Now let me think for a bit."

* * *

><p>"There, the finishing touches on the gloves. Now if Adalia draws something in her dreams for you, you can implement it immediately after she starts drawing it. That should be the last tool you need to work with time." Ernie said as he finished explaining the last of the extra items that he had built for Becka.<p>

"Thank you, Ernie. I can't wait to use these!" Becka laughed, which caused Ernie to laugh, which made Becka laugh harder, until she was crying again.

"Uh-oh, you're not sad again already, right?" Ernie asked with a grin.

"No, it's just the tears that come from laughing so much." Becka said as she wiped her eyes.

"That's good, I'm glad you're happy now." Ernie said

"YIPPEE!" Michaels voice echoed around Becka and Ernie.

"Looks like you have to go, can you tell Adalia that Alvaro's gift should be opened tonight? The changes we made in order to hold your things won't last as long as it would have." Ernie said as Michaels started saying "I get to talk to Ed!" over and over.

"Yes, sir!" Becka said with a salute and a smirk.

"Great, I will see you girls after you finish that. Thank you again for your help." Ernie said as he saluted back and then disappeared.

'That's enough, shut him up or he will get more annoying.' Becka finally spoke.

'_Hey, you're back. What were you up to while I was eating dinner with these two?'_ Adalia asked brightly.

'I was talking to my friend, the one that got me called crazy, and he mentioned that Alvaro's gift to you should be opened tonight. Wait...two? I thought you were just eating with Michaels.' Becka asked, stunned slightly.

* * *

><p><strong>Oops, nearly forgot to say something this time. Lol.<strong>

***clears throat, gets into tour guide voice*  
><strong>**Here we see a little bit into the interactions between Becka and Ernie, with the past serving as the backdrop for several small insights into what will happen next.  
>*clears throat again, back to normal voice*<br>Well, that's that. I think maybe I will get back to where we left off with Jason's phone buzzing, but something else may come to mind that would take priority chapter wise, I don't know. Oh, well. See you next time.**


	8. Chapter 8: Finding common ground

"_Adalia and Becka. I would like to introduce to you both the items you will need to achieve your goals as we talked about during my most recent visit to each of you, as well as some of the people you will need to rely on, learn from, and fight with. I understand that this will be difficult for you, no requests I make are ever easy. However, from the times I have spent with you, and the years I have watched you, I have learned that you two are not to be underestimated even by me. I am no longer going to show you just a single face of mine, but there are things that need to happen before our next visit. With things as they are I wish you good luck, and a safe journey, until we meet again. ~TRUTH"_

_When the two of them finished reading the note they looked at the pile of things on the floor around them and then back at the paper, only to see that the note had turned back into the circle and was now a dull gray color instead of the shiny black ink it had been to begin with._

"_A book series, a photo of Becka and a few other people I've never seen, a backpack with two different colored flamels, pens, gloves, a weird watch, and a device that doesn't work. What exactly is all this, and how the heck did it come from a circle that's only requirement was that it was activated?" Jason asked, his loud voice filled with incredulity right before his phone buzzed._

* * *

><p>Jason crossed his arms and sighed briefly before he nodded to Al and left the room to answer his phone, stepping carefully around Adalia as he crossed the room to get to the door.<p>

Michaels leaned over from his position on the bed to see everything that was on the floor, the transforming watch caught his attention and he reached for it. "What exactly is all this," he asked, he examined the watch as it changed.

Adalia sneaked a look at Al and saw that he was watching her expectantly. "They are things that he helped me pack a few hours ago, it's a sort of preparation for something he wants me...i mean, us...to do." She said as she got up and started putting the items in the backpack. "We won't be able to meet him again until something happens." The entire series except for the first book end up in the bottom of the backpack, that ended up in the front pocket for easy access.

"You mean Alvaro?" Michaels asked as the watch changed again in his hands.

Adalia looked up at Michaels in surprise. "Yes." She answered simply as she pulled one of the pairs of gloves on, the dark red ones with the spring green embroidery.

"So Alvaro is your reason for doing this now?" Al asked as Adalia closed the suitcase for the gloves and set it on the books.

"Yes." Her answer was short as she frowned, she clearly didn't want to talk about it. Most of the pens fit in a side pocket on the inside of the backpack that zipped closed. The last pen was placed in the same pocket as the first book, it's reddish brown core contrasted with the leaf design on the bright silver clip.

The watch morphed again, making Michaels drop it as it's weight tripled and it's materials became pure silver. The wristwatch gained a chain as it's wristband disappeared and it's face doubled in size before a cover appeared. "Be careful with it!" Adalia nearly shouted as she reached over and caught it, she winced from the impact on her palm as the watch landed. Once she had the watch she held it up to get a look at it, this style was less familiar to her than the others it had been and the hexagram that was displayed on the cover looked odd with the lion-thing standing on it's hind legs in the middle of it.

"That's the same type of state alchemist watch my brother has!" Al exclaimed in shock.

"They haven't made one of these in over fifty years! The heavy silver watch had been phased out and replaced with a lightweight aluminum-silver alloy when the mines had stopped producing enough silver for them." Michaels added.

The metal watch warmed Adalia's hand briefly before it cooled off and felt like normal metal again. "Well then, I guess I have one now too. I think it just settled into a form it will stick to for a while." She said as it passed the ten second mark without changing into anything else. "Is there anything in particular I should know about this watch," She asked, looking up at Al again.

"Nothing, other than that you look a little too young for this to be considered proof of you being a state alchemist. It would just be a normal watch to you, although it looks too new to be an heirloom." He shrugged as he watched the silver gleam.

Adalia nodded and placed the watch in the pocket of her jeans. She briefly wondered what it was for before she turned back to the remaining items on the floor, the photo and the "Ipad mini".

At this point the door opened and Jason stuck his head in the room. "I gotta go, but make sure you tell me what happened tomorrow, shorty." He said quickly before he shut the door and footsteps were heard going down the hall.

Adalia sighed at Jason's actions as Becka yelled for being called short. Once Becka quieted again she picked up the "Ipad mini". She felt it's sides and looked at it, all along the front and back, there really was no visible control for it. However, as she held it in her hands the screen flashed and turned on, showing what looked like herself.

"So it's a "Magic mirror"? I guess I was expecting something a little more extraordinary." Adalia said as she rolled her eyes, but the picture on the device wasn't mirroring her.

"It could be more than that, first impressions can be wrong." Becka said, her voice coming from Adalia's hands.

"Did...did that thing just talk?" Michaels asked after a few minutes of the room being in stunned silence.

"I don't think _it_ talked, I think _Becka_ talked." Al said quietly as he watched Becka and Adalia stare at each other for the first time since Adalia's arrival.

"Well, I guess this way talking to the two of them won't be so confusing, but what exactly does it do?" Michaels asked.

"It's supposed to help us work with each other, the books already told us what we will be working with." Becka supplied, revealing some of her knowledge on the matter. "Apparently it can link our psychs and let me speak again, Ernie likely added this and the note after I talked to him."

"Isn't Ernie the guy you used to talk on the phone with?" Michaels asked, his eyebrows raised from where he was laying on his stomach and kicking his legs around in the air as he watched them.

"Oh snap, I forgot that I was speaking aloud again, I guess I'd gotten used to being inside already. Yes Michaels, that was him." Becka replied pensively as she turned to look at him.

"You two look alike." Michaels stated as he stared.

"That has already been established, Michaels." Adalia and Becka said at the same time. "After all, we _are_ twins." Becka added

"Twins?" Adalia asked.

"Yeah, you didn't notice? We only have a picture in front of our face that proves it." Becka replied with a soft eyeroll.

"Oh yeah, cool!" Adalia said as she picked up the picture. "Now you mention it, the boy behind me looks like Alvaro."

"While the boy behind me looks like Ernie, although I guess this was before he changed his form."

"Ernie can change form? Neat! Alvaro and I often play board games."

"It's not as much that he changes form as that he uses the form that best suits the situation, he often looks like he is several years older than me, but here we look the same age."

"Now that I think of it, at some point Alvaro started looking like a twelve year old. I wonder why?"

"I don't know, but they worked together today to teach us both special skills."

"Is that why we got these books with weird titles?"

"Most likely, they probably have more information on what we learned."

"Do you want to go outside to practic-"

"Excuse me, while it's nice that you two suddenly have much more in common after seeing each other, some of us aren't exactly keeping up with your conversation." Al interrupted.

"Oh, whoops." Adalia and Becka glanced at each other. Adalia gave a small giggle, and Becka grinned.

"I guess we will have to wait a bit before we continue that then." Becka said.

"Agreed." Adalia replied as she put the picture in the backpack on top of everything else and zipped it closed. "Shall we say tonight?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, we have a few more things to work out before that." Becka noted.

"True, and we also need to get ready to talk to Professor Ed tomorrow."

"That will take some time, you mentioned earlier about wanting to practice. Did you want to go on the roof tonight? The stars will be out and there's plenty of room up there."

"Sure, that sounds like fun. Do you think that…"

Al and Michaels looked at each other, there was little possibility for either one of them to interrupt as Adalia placed the backpack near the duffle bag and sat down at her desk to plan out the rest of her evening in the purple notebook that she had picked up off the floor, so Al stood and faced Michaels. He shook Michaels hand, told him good luck, and left the room. By the time Adalia and Becka got all talked out, it was bedtime.

* * *

><p><strong>Finally reached the end of the first day after two months of writing (Three if you count the month it took to get the prepping down before I started posting), I wasn't expecting to be able to write weekly since my ideas are usually more sporadic, but maybe it has something to do with you guys being here as my readers. Thank you for reading, everyone!<strong>

**I just realized that there seems to be a discrepancy about Adalia's reaction to waking up and seeing the circle in Becka's notebook compared to the fact that she had watched her draw it as she fell asleep. In order to resolve this I would like to note that falling asleep caused her to forget some of what had just happened to her in the dream world. **


	9. Chapter 9: Dreamland

"Hey, Becka!" Adalia called up to the treehouse with a grin on her face.

"What?" Becka yelled back as she stuck her head out one of the open windows in the wooden building.

"There's a balloon ride at the fair, do you want to go on that or the roller coaster?" Adalia asked as she jumped and flew next to the window Becka was leaning out of, Adalia floated there as she waited for Becka's answer.

"I have to finis- Hey, wait a sec. What are you doing here?" Becka asked, her head tilted slightly in confusion at the sight of the one person she wasn't expecting to see.

"I wanted to see what you dream about, it's very interesting out here." Adalia replied as she waved a hand at the world around them.

"Go ahead and explore then, I have to finish this puzzle before time runs out." Becka said as a small ping sound was heard from inside the treehouse, she quickly ducked her head back inside the building and knelt to pick up one of the many puzzle pieces still on the floor.

"I can help you, then we can both go!" Adalia suggested, she flew through the window and hovered on the other side of the room, the puzzle pieces filled the floor, leaving no room to land. "What is it supposed to be a picture of?" She asked.

"I don't know, I've never been able to complete it." Becka replied.

Adalia looked around and picked up an edge piece, then another, and then another, and then more, and then even _more_. "How much time do we have to work on this?" She wondered aloud.

"It varies, sometimes hours, sometimes minutes." Becka revealed.

"Hmm…lets do this." Adalia pulled out a pen from somewhere on her person and drew the storage circle on the ground around the puzzle. "There, now we can keep working on it when we wake up if we can't finish it tonight. Do you want to come outside now?"

Becka stared at Adalia for a moment, then nodded. "I suppose I can." She mumbled, standing.

Adalia grinned and dramatically held her hand out to Becka. Once Becka grabbed hold, Adalia flew out the window, being careful not to hurt Becka on the sill as she dragged her through the air to the fair.

"Woa-oa-oa-oah!" Becka yelled as she blinked the wind out of her eyes from how fast they were going, by the time she was used to the speed Adalia had landed already.

"Come on! There's a roller coaster over here, and a spinning top ride over there! There's even a ferris wheel on the other side of the fairgrounds! This place is so cool!" Adalia was running this way and that, pointing out different attractions where people were lined up to go see.

"Lets go on the roller coaster." Becka said. "I can show you a good place to buy the pictures after that, then we can go to the game stands if you want." Becka knew this fairground well, it was the one she went to every year until something happened, although she couldn't quite remember what it was. She always had the same pattern of going on the rides, to the point where the people working the rides knew when she would come see them.

"Alright! show me the way!" Adalia nearly yelled in her enthusiasm. Becka just nodded with a smile and walked to the roller coaster with Adalia skipping not too far behind her. Maybe it would be better this time.

The roller coaster left Becka breathless as always, with Adalia close behind her this time. As they got off she heard some laughter that sounded familiar coming from the Scrambler across the way. She walked over there only to see herself laughing at nothing in particular, which probably meant that she had been talking to Ernie. Becka froze as she watched her younger self, and Adalia ran into her because of the sudden stop.

"What's up?" She asked as she peered around Becka, rubbing her nose from the brief impact.

"I need to go back to the treehouse," Becka said, "NOW." she added, running away from both Adalia and the scene that was about to take place.

Adalia watched as Becka ran off before turning back to watch what was happening.

Younger Becka was no longer laughing, since someone seemed to have knocked her down.

"You're weird." Adalia heard someone say, "You laugh when nothing is funny and you cry when nothing is sad." Someone else explained, "Someone said that you are talking to ghosts, but I don't believe them, I think you're just crazy." A third voice pointed out meanly.

"Well Ernie isn't a ghost, and he tells me things that make me laugh and he comforts me when I need to cry. He likes to watch what I do because he's bored!" Younger Becka yelled indignantly.

"Ernie?" The first voice laughed. "So you _do_ talk to someone!" The third person snickered. "If I had a ghost talking to me, I would get rid of him, not talk to him." the second one added in.

"I told you, he's not a ghost!" Younger Becka got out of the line and ran off in the same direction Becka went earlier, leaving the kids who were speaking to her snickering.

Adalia stepped forward and put her hand on one of the kids' shoulders, she waited until they all were looking at her before she spoke, "No matter who she speaks with, she is a person just like you. Please remember that the next time you see her and treat her with more respect than you just did." She said, turning and jogging to catch up with Becka and Younger Becka. Behind her the kids were looking at each other and down at the ground, realizing that they had been harsher on her than they had meant to be.

After searching the fairgrounds for several minutes Adalia finally found younger Becka sitting in a corner by the ferris wheel, sitting with her back against one of the walls and tear tracks showing on face.

"Hey." Adalia spoke in a soft voice, squatting so that she could see eye to eye with the twelve year old. "Are you ok?" She asked, reaching forward to wipe the tears away.

"No." The small girl replied, "But I'm not going to say why, if I say anything I will be laughed at again."

"I'll buy you ice cream," Adalia said, "and we can go on the ferris wheel so you know that I will be the only one to hear you."

"Fine, but I only trust you because you look like me, so I want chocolate ice cream!" Little Becka demanded as she got up and followed Adalia to the ice cream stand.

"Just what I was going to get for myself," Adalia held back a chuckle as she got two chocolate ice creams and led younger Becka back to the ferris wheel. Once they were seated and the ride had started, Adalia handed younger Becka her ice cream. She watched her carefully as she took her first bite, preparing for the conversation.

"I was being teased." younger Becka said simply.

"And?"

"And...they always manage to make me cry! They are the reason I cry! What I talk to Ernie about should be none of their business!" younger Becka harshly bit out, "The only reason they were hanging out with me today was because they had to. I'll show them...I'll become a state alchemist and show them!"

"Calm down and eat your ice cream before it melts." Adalia said, "we are almost at the top and I bet the view is great."

"It is a great view." younger Becka acknowledged as she concentrated on her ice cream, "You can see the treehouse from there." She noted.

Adalia looked out over the fair. Sure enough, beyond the edge of the fairgrounds was the treehouse, sitting all by itself in the middle of a clearing. "I need to get over there, Becka said she was headed over there." She said.

"But I'm right here." Becka replied, making Adalia turn back. Sure enough, the twenty year old was the one eating the ice cream in front of her.

"I thought you were a twelve year old?"

"I was, eight years ago. These fairgrounds were the last place I talked to Ernie in public, I remember that now. Although I wish I didn't." Becka winced. "They may not have meant it, but because of what happened here…" Becka paused and looked out as the ferris wheel ride was coming to the end, "I couldn't talk to Ernie for months." She finished her ice cream and stepped out into the now deserted fair.

"What are you going to do now?" Adalia asked, a worried look spread across her face as she watched Becka walk depressedly back to the treehouse.

"Finish that puzzle and get out of here." Becka replied over her shoulder.

"But you said that you never finished the puzzle before."

"I also had never even left the treehouse before, maybe the reason I couldn't finish the puzzle was because of_this_." Becka gestured at the fair around them. "I _thank_ you for bringing me out here to something I was too scared to _face_, but I _have_ to go." She said as she started jogging quickly.

"Well, I'm coming too!" Adalia huffed. She jumped up and floated over to Becka, she grabbed her hand and flew back to the treehouse the same way she flew to the fair...too fast for Becka.

When they arrived they saw that much of the puzzle had put itself together while they were gone. "Maybe we should leave it here if that's what's going to happen." Becka mumbled as she faced it, "Oh well, time to go." She closed her eyes and started falling. When she opened her eyes it was dawn and she was back in the dorm room.

'_I think you are right about the puzzle.'_ Adalia said as she woke up too, '_It seems like going to the fair did more work than staying in the treehouse did.'_

'Don't remind me, I spent months worth of dreams trying to put that thing together. I never got any farther than the edges.' Becka said grumpily

'_Sorry, then. but may I join you tonight as well? My own dreams are so easy to follow.'_ Adalia asked gently.

'Apparently so, you did just jump right on into my dream on your own.' Becka replied as she got up.

'_I forgot to ask...'_ Adalia said to herself as she thought about this having been her first time visiting someone else's dream.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry I'm late...sorry I'm late.<strong>

**What with distractions and yesterday's holiday I wasn't able to finish writing this until now. I have a few ideas for the next one, but my head hurts right now so I won't likely get to know what will happen next until shortly before you do...again.**

**In case you didn't understand why this chapter might feel out of place, most of this is Becka's dream.**

**Um...I will try to do better next time. I think we will get to meet Ed though, so maybe I can put in more humor than I have been...(I'm waaay too serious about these kinds of things...why do I keep writing chapters like this anyway?) Hopefully by the time this story is over I will have improved my writing skills enough to create something better.**


	10. Chapter 10: Dream-Time, Cooperation

"So…" The pale blond haired golden eyed professor across from Becka just stared at her, his brother stood behind him equally quiet, and for some reason Jason was standing on the other side of the blond professor. They had been sitting in the same office that Adalia met professor Al in just twenty-four hours prior. "So…" She repeated again, "You're _not_ mad at me? I thought I was the reason you came all the way out here from all the way on the other side of the country."

"_You_ are not who I would get mad at for this." He countered, "I just don't want you to get hurt. However, I _would_ like to know more about the fact that you are or were in contact with someone who taught you how to use alchemy without needing materials." He raised an eyebrow as he stared at Becka suspiciously.

Becka bit her lip and glanced down at her hands where Adalia was sitting via the Ipad mini. Adalia looked just as uncomfortable as Becka was, but Adalia seemed more ready to speak.

"It's not quite the same thing as not needing materials, sir." Adalia responded, drawing his gaze away from Becka, "The materials are always there, they just happen to be here in my dream space right now." She said, gesturing to the environment behind her.

Professor Ed frowned, "I know you have seen Truth, Adalia. You wouldn't be here if you hadn't. But can you explain to me how having the materials in your dream space differs from normal alchemy or even 'Clapping?'"

"What I _saw_ was an _old friend_ who I wanted to help." Adalia defended angrily, "Aside from that, according to Becka I haven't used either normal alchemy or 'Clapping.' as you call it. Heck, I didn't even know this world, or its science-magic, existed until he forced me to come here and 'learn more about him'!" She crossed her arms and huffed.

"He?" Ed questioned.

"Yes. 'He'. My friend, Alvaro." Adalia paused, "I know he knows Jason, Michaels, and Professor Al, because they are some of the people he entrusted me to."

Jason shrugged, but there was a thudding against the wall outside the door, and Al gasped. This was not information he had known. He shared a quick glance with his brother, who had heard the quiet intake of air, then looked back at Becka. Perhaps he should have known. When Michaels had mentioned the name of her friend the night before, Al thought nothing of it. Remembering it now, he realized the significance of the name.

"There's something else we haven't shown you yet." Adalia said with a strong voice, "Becka, I'm going to draw, I want you to get find a spot where the puzzle can be placed. Remember to wear one of the gloves." The screen showed Adalia picking up a pen and concentrating on something as her hand moved back and forth on a sheet of paper.

"Can't you choose something else to expose?" Becka asked with a small wince.

"We don't have anything else ready at the moment, and this is a good time to figure out what it really is." Adalia replied, not looking up from the paper.

Becka groaned, but she got up and motioned for the three Elrics to follow her before walking out the room and heading outside.

Since it was a Saturday there was no one on the school grounds, meaning there was plenty of space to do this without causing too much surprise. There was an empty grass field that was for a ball game that Al had brought from Xing some time back. Becka walked over to it and held one hand up, the other hand was holding the Ipad mini. Michaels had joined them since he had been standing in the hall after his turn with Ed was over, so when he and the Elrics were situated Becka started concentrating on the circle that came to mind as Adalia drew, she remembered what Ernie had told her and activated the glove.

The glove glowed as Becka concentrated on the time when the drawing would be finished, the light increased as she pulled the drawing into the present after Adalia had pushed it into real life. Shortly after that various places on the ground glowed as well. At first it was a flash of yellow, but when when the alchemy was completed there was a soft orange glow. Inside of which sat the puzzle from Becka's dream in all its cosmic design. It was even in the same condition as they had left it the night before.

Jason squatted to get a closer look at the puzzle that lay in pieces on the untouched grass, then he looked up at where Adalia was. Edward folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. Alphonse stood still, silently taking it all in. Michaels stood there with wide eyes.

"Why is Adalia still drawing? The puzzle is already here." Jason spoke up. Everyone's attention moved to where Adalia was, indeed, still sketching.

"Because, while she is drawing to bring the puzzle out of the dream environment, I brought her finished project out of the future." Becka stated as she nodded toward the puzzle on the ground, "Adalia will end up drawing for the next several minutes in order to produce what you see here. After that...we don't know what will happen."

Ed frowned, Al scratched the back of his head as he thought, Jason stood and crossed his arms as well. Michaels was the only one who reacted optimistically, grinning like no one could stop him, and that was because he didn't really understand alchemy.

"What exactly are you supposed to do with it?" Al asked.

"Um...help you guys, I guess. He wasn't very clear with how he worded how I am supposed to use this." Becka said as she stared at her black and silver glove.

'_Becka...'_ Adalia thought, making Becka startle, '_I've been thinking about this for a while, but the way we are talking is getting confusing. I know you have your friend and I have mine, but the way this conversation is going everyone keeps referencing them as the same person.'_

Becka closed her eyes and answered, 'Adalia, you said you were brought here to learn about him. Here his name is Truth, you saw that on the note he gave us. He had apparently only been showing each of us one of his faces up to that point, both as your friend Alvaro and as my friend Ernie. He treated us differently than everyone else for a reason that I am not qualified to retell, but I trust him more than I probably should and apparently so do you.'

When Becka opened her eyes again everyone was staring at her with weird expressions on their faces.

"What are you all staring at?" She deadpanned. "Adalia asked me a question, so I answered it."

"The puzzle disappeared at the same time Adalia stopped drawing." Al replied slowly.

Becka and Adalia looked at where the puzzle had been. Sure enough there was nothing there.

"Oh...I guess that was different than what we did last night." Becka said as she scratched the side of her face in confusion.

"Hey! This gives me an idea, Becka!" Adalia said loudly as she started drawing again.

"What are you doing now?" Becka sighed.

"I should be done in an hour. Can you pull it from that time?" Adalia asked.

"Erm...fine." Becka said as she tried to ignore the looks that the Elrics were giving her. She activated the glove and watched as a person shaped flash of yellow that faded to an orange glow appeared, there stood Adalia.

"Woah! It worked!" Adalia spoke from her figure as she looked down at herself, "It's too bad that it will only last for an hour, but this is cool!" She walked over to the Elrics, who were stunned at the appearance of the person who was obviously still drawing, and held her hand out. "I think this would be my first time meeting all of you as my own person, so I will introduce myself again. Hello, my name is Adalia. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." Al replied as he shook her hand. He watched as she shook hands with both his brother and his grand nephew. She smiled slightly wider when she shook Jason's hand than Ed's

"I suppose I met you yesterday since you don't react to being called 'shorty'." Jason said.

"Yes, you did. Becka reacted like you wouldn't believe, though." She said as they both glanced at Becka who had crossed her arms and was sulking.

"Oh, I think I know how she would react. She is a _shorty_ after all!" Jason said, watching Becka as she jumped and started yelling about how she wasn't as short as he was claiming.

"How are you in your own body?" Michaels asked Adalia.

"I made one and had Becka bring it out of the future. I need to be careful though, this one is basically a sculpture made out of paper. I could probably build something better and longer lasting if I actually tried though.

Ed was standing there opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water as he stared at the hand he had just shaken. He had spent most of his teen years searching for a way to get his arm and Al's body back, and then several years after that researching ways to help those who had been hurt by alchemy once he had lost the ability to use it himself. After all that research and the founding of a school system for the public that ended up lasting several dozen years, here's someone who just conjured a body out of thin air. What's more, Truth wants his brother to take care of her while she figures out how to live on this side of the gate. Although that makes sense with his brother's personality and Ed's travels, Ed just couldn't swallow that his life's work was just thrown in his face. He held the palm of his hand to his forehead as he tried to work things out, but nothing came to mind. He felt a hand placed on his shoulder and looked up at Al's smiling face.

"It's no use worrying about what could have happened, brother." Al said gently, keeping his voice low so that only Ed could hear him as he watched the four young adults interact. "Adalia said Truth was an old friend, and I'm inclined to believe her even if she thinks she's dreaming. You may not remember, but Becka was teased for talking to someone who wasn't there for a while. If what happened to you happened to her, then Adalia is someone who may have been in a worse position than Becka since you and I both know that they can't use alchemy on the other side of the gate. We should do what we can to help her while she is here."

"You're right, I'm just shocked that they can do that." He said, waving his hand toward where Adalia was pulling Michaels around as Becka argued with Jason about being short.

"I am, too. I wonder if that ability was the reason she could come here, I can see no other reason for it." Al said softly, considering possible reasons for Truth to want to take this girl from her world and thrust her into a completely new environment.

"I just hope it has no connection with what I discovered right before I made my way over here." Ed replied fearfully.

* * *

><p><strong>Aand I'm more than a week late this time...oh well. I had something come up that took a long time to work through...in addition to finals.<strong>

**I tried to put humor in this one to make up for my serious tones, did I do okay? I may have ended up being serious anyway, I tend to do that. *scratches the back of her head and looks away shyly***

**On a positive note, I should have no more schoolwork until next semester so I can concentrate on writing this, but once I start next semester I will have a lot of writing assignments...geeze, I'm such a pessimist. Optimism, optimism! Things are actually already coming together better than when I started writing the story, so feel free to guess at what I have coming next!**


	11. Chapter 11: A worse position

Adalia yawned, she stretched her arms over her head as her eleven year old body slowly left it's cozy slumber. The clock on the wall showed the time being seven o'clock. She smiled brightly at the mirror on her nightstand, her meeting with Alvaro the night before put her in a good mood. She jumped out of bed in her lavender pajamas and set about getting dressed. She hummed as she pulled a green tshirt over her head and pulled on her second favorite jeans, the ones with the beaded butterflies on them. She had worn her favorites, the ones with flowers, a few days ago.

She was just about to put on a hat when her mom knocked on her door with that special knock of hers.

"Are you almost ready?" She asked her daughter.

"Yes, Mom." Adalia replied, knowing that if she told her mom that she had another dream about someone else that her mom would just brush it off and not talk to her for the rest of the day.

It was almost saddening that she couldn't tell anyone about Alvaro, but then again, most people don't get to talk to other people in their dreams. "Should I wear the hat, or not?" Adalia asked her mom as she opened the door. Her mom pondered for a moment before approving the hat.

Adalia grinned and ran out the door, rushing down the stairs to the kitchen for a quick breakfast.

"Hey, shorty. going somewhere?" Her older brother teased lightly.

"There's a party at Samuel's house today!" She told him, "The one on Midfreight avenue."

"Oh? Isn't that a bit far to walk?" He asked honestly, "I could drive you if you wanted." He pulled out his new driver's license that he had gotten yesterday and waved it around.

"It's only eight blocks away, I can get myself there fine." Adalia giggled at her older brother's attempt to find a reason to drive anywhere. "If you want to pick me up afterward, the party should be over at around three."

"Fine. I'll pick you up, but what about your friends who will be there?" He asked.

"Er...They'll be fine. They have their own rides home, I think…" Adalia replied, unsure.

"Remember to be careful around people you don't know, They could be anyone." Adalia's mom warned her.

"Alright, Mom. I'll be careful." Adalia said as she pulled on her backpack and stepped out the front door.

The early saturday morning was peaceful, most of the neighborhood had decided to sleep in or something. Adalia stopped and listened to the birds chirping as the breeze made the trees sway slightly. After a moment of just basking in the sunlight, she glanced at her watch to see that it was seven thirty. She ran as fast as she could across the street, grinning as she did so. She hopped over a wagon that was laying on the sidewalk, passed Martin as he set up his lemonade stand, twisted around Miss Bianca and her pet cat as they walked down the street, and ran onto a bridge that went over a small creek before she stopped and panted. As she looked behind her she saw that she had gone 3 blocks in the opposite direction of Midfreight avenue, but that was fine. The party didn't start until noon, she had plenty of time to do whatever she wanted until then. She looked down at the creek and rested her arms on the bridge as she gazed at the water.

"One fish, two fish…" Someone started counting. Adalia looked around, trying to find whoever it was.

"Red fish, Blue fish…" Adalia interrupted quickly, laughing as she completed the Dr Seuss rhyme. The person who had been counting was the person she was meeting, and he had been sitting just behind a tree, out of view.

"Nice to see you, Adalia." He said as he smiled.

"Nice to see you too, Frederick." She replied with a grin, "I've been looking for a nickname for you. You never know when you may need it." She laughed as she walked over to him and sat beside him on the bank.

"What if I don't want a nickname." He tried to say with a pout, but two seconds later he laughed anyway. "Yours is weird enough as it is! Why did you pick that anyway?"

"Because it fits, for reasons I can't really say." Adalia raised an eyebrow as she smirked at him. "Yours does too, 'Leon'."

"Gah! Is that really what you picked?" 'Leon' asked. He covered his eyes with an arm. "I'm not brave at all!"

"Yes, you are. And with your regular name meaning 'peaceful ruler' I thought that being 'brave as a lion' would suit you." Adalia smiled softly, "Besides, it's what I'm going to call you, even if I didn't choose it, 'Leon'."

"What do you mean, 'you didn't choose it'? I thought that's why you looked it up?" Frederick asked, confused.

"I had some help afterwards, lets just say that the nickname fits you better than one I would have picked on my own." Adalia replied with a grin.

"How does that work?" Frederick asked, even more confused now.

"Hehe. It has something to do with how my nickname is Adalia." She replied softly as she leaned back and stared at the sky. She blinked slowly, feeling that unusual tiredness that often seemed to come at random times, but she welcomed it since it mean that she could see that much more of Alvaro. "If I don't wake up before eleven thirty, would you please wake me up, Frederick?" She asked through a yawn.

"Sure thing." He answered, setting an alarm on his phone and picking up his fishing pole.

Adalia barely heard him as she slowly went to dreamland, leaning against a tree.

* * *

><p>"Hey there!" Adalia called as she jogged up to Alvaro, his position looking much like Leon's as he looked out over an ocean.<p>

"Hey," he greeted back, his eyes never moving from the target of their focus.

"What's up? You don't usually make me nap so soon after waking up." Adalia noted curiously.

"I wanted to know what you think about his reaction to the name I picked for him." He replied, finally glancing over lazily before turning back to whatever it was that he was looking at.

The extremely calm environment, the oceanside house with a fenced in garden that was behind Alvaro, made Adalia shrug, "His confusion is only one of his reactions, I think it's normal for him. Before that..." Adalia tilted her head as she thought back, "I think he was either embarrassed or annoyed, but most likely both." She commented to the ten year old.

"Interesting. What is your conclusion as to how he is thinking right now?" Alvaro raised an eyebrow but didn't turn his head.

"He is humoring me, but doesn't think of me well...did you have to point it out? He is the kindest person outside of my family." Adalia sighed as she grimaced.

"I wanted to make sure you realized the truth, you act so free that it often seems like nothing affects you." Alvaro stated.

"Yeah, I know. I do that on purpose." Adalia huffed as she finally looked out at the ocean to see what Alvaro was looking at. Aways out, there was a rock with a boat stranded on it. Sitting on the boat, looking forlornly toward land and watching them converse, was a lion.

"That…" Alvaro glanced at Adalia where she was frozen with shock, "is Frederick right now. Would you like him to be able to join us?"

"I…" Adalia paused, still shocked that Leon became a lion. "I guess it's ok, is there a way to share this with him while he is watching the time for me?"

"I can do that, I just wanted your permission first." Alvaro said calmly as he waved a hand toward the lion. As Adalia watched, the boat broke apart carefully, turning into a bridge that the lion then crossed to reach them.

"Thank you, I guess." The lion spoke as he surveyed his surroundings once he was on dry land. "Am I seeing your dream?" Leon asked Adalia.

"No, this is mine." Alvaro spoke up as Adalia opened her mouth to speak. "I pulled Adalia here, and also you. Although you are only half here, as you are still the lion that I named you as."

"_**You**_ are the person she asked? A dream sprite or whatever they call those things nowadays?" Leon asked, his tone clearly showing his disgust with the idea. "Great! My new nickname was given to me by a 'fairy'." He added sarcastically.

"I. Am. _NOT._ A fairy, _or_ a dream sprite." Alvaro deadpanned angrily. "That is _all_ you need to know about me. As for your nickname, it clearly suits you." He added.

Leon stared at Alvaro, who stared back fiercely. "Okay, I'm officially weirded out now." He said after losing the staring contest.

"You have spent too much time with me anyway, go fish while you wait for Adalia to wake up instead." Alvaro took this moment to knock Leon from the dream world, watching him disappear with a flicker.

"Was that really necessary?" Adalia asked him once Leon was gone.

"Somewhat, yes. Do you want to go inside yet?" Alvaro gestured at the building behind him.

"Maybe in a bit, I like it out here." Adalia replied with a hum as she sat next to him.

* * *

><p>"It's almost time for that party to start, do you want to go?" Alvaro asked after a while.<p>

"Not really, I was going to arrive there with just enough time to enjoy a snack before my brother picked me up anyway. There is no real reason to go other than to appear normal to my family, as if I were accepted by my classmates." Adalia answered flippantly.

"I think you should go, something is likely to change today." Alvaro mentioned as he glanced over at her.

Adalia sighed, but stood and helped Alvaro up before they walked into the house, neither spoke a word as Adalia picked up a paintbrush that was just sitting around and drew, and painted, and drew. By the time she wanted to stop, Alvaro had been motionlessly watching her for hours.

"It's almost time for your lunch, go wake up. Leon is nervous about how long you've been sleeping." He said with a smirk, his first since Adalia had dropped by this time. He watched as Adalia nodded at him and put down her drawing tools. Once Adalia was ready, Alvaro snapped his fingers. She instantly woke up as her eyes snapped open.

"You're finally awake!" Frederick sighed, exasperated. "I tried waking you at eleven thirty like you asked, but you wouldn't wake up! It's almost one forty-five now, is that alright with you?"

Adalia blinked and sat up, she shook her head to clear the sleepiness away. "Yeah. It's fine. All I needed was time to eat and walk to Samuel's house." She said as she reached over and pulled out a sandwich from her backpack, then another. She ate slowly, enjoying every bite as she sat there staring at the nature around her.

"...Er. Did I just meet the guy who gave you my nickname?" Leon asked tentatively.

"You did, sorry for what he did when he was annoyed, I guess that topic was kind of a sore spot for him or something." Adalia answered.

"O...kay then." Frederick said as he stepped back from Adalia quietly. Once he was out of earshot he turned and ran to Samuel's house without looking back.

By the time Adalia finished her sandwiches, forty minutes had passed. She stood and knocked the dirt off of her pants and picked up her backpack. She tossed it over her shoulder and began jogging to Samuel's house at two thirty. She arrived at two fifty-five and grabbed a sandwich from the buffet table to chew on while she waited for her brother, some of the voices that she heard conversing used some of the usual rude remarks as well as some new ones.

"Look who's late to the party."

"Who? Oh, it's the dreamer."

"I bet you she fell asleep again."

"Hey, you know that she did?"

"Really? How do you know?"

"Frederick arrived an hour ago, apparently he was there!"

"No way! He was with _her_?"

"You bet, and when he got here he was looking like he had run for his life!"

"Haha, what else can you do when she's around?"

"Nothing much. She's such a downer."

She looked over to where the conversation was taking place and saw Samuel's older brother with some of his friends.

Tires screeched outside a few minutes later, interrupting everyone. Just moments after that everyone heard the sounds of metal colliding and car alarms going off. Everyone ran outside to see what happened. As Adalia walked out the front door she recognized her family's car rubbed up against the vehicle of another guest, her eyes widened as she noticed the driver who stumbled out with a hand held to his head. "Jason!" She yelled as she ran to her brother's side. "Jason! Are you alright?"

"HEY! He drove into my Mom's car!" One of the guests yelled once she had realized what happened.

"Ow…" Jason winced. "My head kind of hurts. I was avoiding Miss Bianca and her cat." He replied to the guest as he worked his way around the vehicle. "I could be better." He mumbled to Adalia as he searched for a place to sit down.

"Sit here." Adalia said as she lead him to a couch inside and sat next to him. She didn't know what to do to help him so she held him by his shoulder and closed her eyes briefly.

* * *

><p>"Alvaro, what do I do? My brother's hurt!" Adalia looked side to side in a panic.<p>

"Calm down. First, take control of the situation and ask for ice." Alvaro replied. He showed her what should be done before making her leave again.

* * *

><p>Adalia opened her eyes and stood up, she gently moved her brother to a prone position and turned to what remained of the party. "I need someone to get some ice and call the hospital. Then I would like to be directed to where some towels are that can be stained and a better place for Jason to lay down for a while." She spoke strongly. Nobody moved for a second, and then three people moved in three directions.<p>

"I'll get the ice!" Frederick said as he headed for the kitchen.

"I'll call the hospital for him." Samuel's mom said as she put her cellphone to her ear and walked to somewhere quieter.

"The towels are over here, and he can use my bed." Samuel said as he turned and lead Adalia through the hall.

After getting Jason settled in Samuel's room, with an icepack on his head, Adalia went outside with a camera to get a look at the cars. She took pictures of all the scrapes and then went inside and called her mom when Samuel's mom was finished with the phone.

"Mom, Jason is hurt. He was avoiding Miss Bianca and ran into one of the cars that was here at the party. I think he hurt his head from the impact." She told her worriedly. "Samuel's mom just called the hospital, so an ambulance should be here soon, but you should hurry, I think he has a concussion!"

"I'm on my way there, Can you tell me why you think he has a concussion if he _just_ hit his head? He just left the house a few minutes ago and I don't remember you taking first aid lessons."

"I'll tell you later." Adalia replied as she hung up. If she had to tell her mom about Alvaro's help she would do it when the day was nearly done so that she would have less time to spend being purposefully ignored. She hoped that Jason would be ok, she had heard stories of people changing their personalities when their heads were hit.

"Adalia?" Frederick asked, startling her from where she had been staring at the wall with her hand still on the phone.

"Huh? Oh. Hey Leon. Just thinking about something. I think I will go check on Jason." Adalia replied as she wiped her eyes, where a few tears had gathered without her notice. She walked down the hall and closed the door behind her as she entered the room where Jason was resting. She pulled a chair up to the bed and sat with her arms crossed on the bed as she stared at her brother until more tears formed and dripped down from her closed her eyes as she went to see Alvaro once again. When she saw him, he was standing next to her with a small game ready to be played. Adalia nodded, and ended up playing chess against him until she couldn't remember her fears.

* * *

><p><strong>That...took longer than expected.<strong>

**I actually was surprised when **_**this**_ **was what decided to come out. but, heh, I guess this is what's next.**

**Adalia's side of the gate, nine years before her crossing. A sample of her experiences with Alvaro and an incident of similar impact to her mental capacity as the event at the fair was for Becka. The difference? Adalia kept her ability to interact with Truth by forgetting the event, Becka let the event overpower her desire to see Truth.**


End file.
